Just a Nerd

My side blog for whatever randomness I feel like sharing/posting (They/them)

[unbotheredmuse]

[monsterbi]

[traumasurvivors]

I want to talk about consent for a moment. 

For awhile, the big consent motto was “no means no” and as time went on, people began to change this because silence is not consent, and a “yes” can be pressured out of someone. 

Now a lot of people talk about enthusiastic consent, and “only an enthusiastic yes means yes.”

I want to talk about that for a moment because it’s not exactly accurate.  

Enthusiastic consent standards may invalidate the legitimate consent of asexuals, sex workers, and other consenting adults who for whatever reason are choosing that sex is right for them, even if they may not be enthusiastic.

There are a lot of reasons to freely choose to consent to something you’re not 100% enthused about, and that’s valid, too! Maybe you want to do something nice for someone else you care about (have you ever helped a friend move even if you don’t like moving boxes or you’re tired?). Maybe you want to get something in particular out of it (like if you wash dishes because you like having clean dishes, even if cleaning them isn’t fun for you). It’s okay to consent to things because you have still decided you’re interested and it’s the right choice for you, even if it’s not something you’re especially excited about.

A freely given yes is what counts for consent. The yes does not have to be “enthusiastic”. But this means the “yes” is not manipulated, coerced or guilted out of someone.

There are times when people may have different consent agreements. For example, some people in relationships may go with “no means no”. In other words, their partner does not need to ask before initiating but must stop if their partner says “no”. This is okay but must be discussed and agreed upon between both people beforehand.

As always, please communicate and respect boundaries, and not just when it comes to sex.

[bogleech]

I know this might not be your area but do you know anything about a koalas ecological niche? I heard theyre completely useless because all they do is eat poison so nothing can eat them, but im also someone who doesnt want to write off any animals as 'useless' (as if, having a use, is what animals are for??)

Yeah there's no such thing as a useless animal, and one thing people don't often realize is that plants NEED to be eaten! They can suffer from too much population density, outbreaks of disease, and crowding out other species just like animals can, and therefore require herbivores to keep them balanced. Koalas and a few insects are among the only things that help trim back eucalyptis, which is not only poisonous to other animals but ultra flammable, causing or worsening wildfires that the trees grow back from. Everything that can stand to eat them probably contributes a little to the containment of an incredibly hostile tree!

[opossum-mypossum]

Also koalas 100% do have natural predators: dingoes, large birds of prey, even a large enough reptile will eat one if it can get it. Koalas perform the ESSENTIAL task of turning poison into food (in the form of koala)

[bogleech]

This is the biggest meaning of "food chain" that a lot of people overlook. They just get taught the simplified "plants become food for herbivores which become food for carnivores" but different plants are edible to different herbivores and different animals are edible to different carnivores! Everything that eats is making new and different meat! There might be nothing around but poisonous toads until a bird moves in that can safely eat them, and then the birds mean that a snake or a weasel gets food!

There might even be a plant that tastes so bad to most things, it chokes out all the other plants, but if just the right butterfly is present then it turns that plant into caterpillars, and just as the caterpillars kill foliage or simply poop, they're turning that invasive, bullying plant into fertilizer for all the others!

[slushyseals]

Unmute!

[undercover-witch]

this seems like something that would legit happen in an abandoned fjord in Norway where the border between humans and the old gods is thin.

[itskobold]

ma'am its clear that this seal is a christian

[trying-to-fight-it]

[thevioletsunflower]

[video description: a seal lying on a beach with its head resting on the edge of the grass. As the camera approaches, the seal opens its mouth, presumably to make seal sounds, but instead of seal sounds the videographer has edited in the sounds of a men’s choir singing etherial music]

[kaijuno]

He’s not catholic that’s the Halo theme. He is a gamer smh

[sirblerginton]

[spacepsychologist]

OBSESSED with the fact that the halo soundtrack slaps so hard people thought it was legit a Catholic choir hymn.

[inahiddenplace]

sometimes u just gotta say “okey dokey” and just like.. rely on urself.. take things as impersonally as u can.. love and let go.. move on.. try and find all the good things, soak those in. and that’s all u can do! and sometimes, that’s enough

[stupidlittledoodles]

A small frog offering pass it on

[molassified-minipak]

reblogger: adds their own tags to my posts

me: peer reviewed

[existential-nun]

normalize recognizing deep emotional bonds in platonic, familial, even working/brother in arms relationships, not just romantic or sexual ones

[thoughtkick]

“We often want it so badly that we ruin it before it begins. Overthinking. Fantasizing. Imagining. Expecting. Worrying. Doubting. Just let it naturally evolve”

— Unknown

[violentwavesofemotion]

“I feel as though I were living in a world of strange beings — do you? It’s people that make things so — silly. As long as you can keep away from them you’re safe and you’re happy.”

— Katherine Mansfield, from The Collected Stories; “Something Childish But Very Natural,” (via violentwavesofemotion)

[strayghost]

who wants to have a knife fight in the forest with me

[busket]

what knife size are we talking here

[strayghost]

its not the size that matters its the memories u make

[paper-mario-wiki]

too many fuckn degrees outside

[tami-taylors-hair]

Britney Spears wanting to have another child and having that denied to her by her father because of his conservatorship is a perfect example of how disabled women are denied their reproductive freedom by those who “know better” and it’s 100% the other side of the anti-choice coin and a way more insidious form of “eugenics” than the imaginary scenarios this site comes up with about evil women getting abortions after screenings.

[curseworm]

the inherent shame of beginning… dont look at me while i learn

[garden-graveyard]

“the inherent shame of beginning”

i admit, “don’t look at me while i learn” hits hard… but why is that so? when i was 7 years old i sang along to songs i had yet to fully learn by bumbling through sounds that half-resembled what i thought i heard, at full volume.

at 6, i would practice ballet moves–in which i had no instruction–outside the theater after a professional performance, in full view of the public.

at 5, i asked my teacher so many questions that she affectionately called me Bug–because i was always bugging her with my endless inquiry. i loved the nickname.

at 14, i was afraid to practice a song in my own room with no one home because, “what if my voice cracks? what if i can’t hit that note?”

at 15 i was afraid to dance in the garage with no one around because–i mean how embarrassing would it be to get the move wrong?

at 16, i forgo asking questions in class because god forbid i not understand.

what is this? “the shame of beginning”, we say. but not inherent, never was it inherent. the child loves to begin! they love making the silly mistake. the world tells us the mistake is fatal, or worse, shameful. what a tragedy. the world strangles our joy of beginning and when we’re old enough we add our own hands to the neck.

but the truth is we begin everyday and we are wrong and we’re dumb and we make silly mistakes and at the end of it all we are still the brilliant learners we’ve always been. there is no shame. it’s alright. i don’t know how to properly express that i wish upon everyone who’s reblogged this post to realize the shame is in our hands wrapped around the neck. we can let go. allow the self-kindess of your heart to soothe the bruises.

learning is no secret burden. we do it together :)

[realityiswack]

Was this meant to be inspirational? Because it is and now I’m halfway to tears

[just-shower-thoughts]

The burden of growing up isn’t the added responsibilities, it’s the realisation of all the things wrong with society and how the world works

[qvotext]

“What are you supposed to do with all the love you have for somebody if that person is no longer there? What happens to all that leftover love? Do you suppress it? Do you ignore it? Are you supposed to give it to someone else?”

— Maggie O’Farrell

[justanerd60]

Cry :,)

[just-shower-thoughts]

People saw Zuko as the villain because we were watching the show from Aang’s point of view. When we starting watching the show from the cabbage merchant’s point of view, Aang is the true villain.